The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-284060, filed Sep. 18, 2001, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jet-propelled watercraft in which a jet nozzle for jetting water is provided at a stern, a steering nozzle is additionally provided for the jet nozzle, and a reverse bucket is vertically swingably provided behind the steering nozzle.
2. Description of Background Art
Jet-propelled watercrafts are known. One example is disclosed in the Japanese Patent No. 3121333 entitled xe2x80x9cWater Jet propulsion unitxe2x80x9d. The jet-propelled watercraft disclosed in this document will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 14, which is recited from FIG. 3 of JP 3121333. It is to be noted that reference numerals are newly given in the following figure for the sake of convenience.
FIG. 14 is a side view showing an essential portion of the related art jet-propelled watercraft disclosed in the above-described document. A jet-propelled watercraft 100 includes a jet propulsion unit 101 at a stern. A steering nozzle 102 is provided behind the jet propulsion unit 101 in such a manner as to be swingable in the lateral direction around upper and lower supporting shafts 103. A reverse bucket 104 is provided behind the steering nozzle 102 in such a manner as to be swingable in the vertical direction around left and right supporting shafts 105.
When the jet-propelled watercraft 100 is to be propelled forward, an operating cable 106 is operated, to swing the reverse bucket 104 around the supporting shafts 105 as shown by an arrow, thereby shifting the reverse bucket 104 to a forward position P3 located over the steering nozzle 102. This causes a water stream to be jetted in a rearward direction from an outlet 102a of the steering nozzle 102, thus propelling the jet-propelled watercraft forward.
On the other hand, when the jet-propelled watercraft 100 is to be propelled in reverse, the operating cable 106 is operated, to swing the reverse bucket 104 around the supporting shafts 105, thereby shifting the reverse bucket 104 to a reverse position P4 on the outlet 102a side of the steering nozzle 102, that is, the position shown in FIG. 14. This cause a result that a water stream jetted from the outlet 102a of the steering nozzle 102 is introduced forward as shown by an arrow, thus propelling the jetpropelled watercraft 100 in reverse.
In addition, a tensile spring 107 is used as means for holding the reverse bucket 104 at the forward position P3 and the reverse position P4.
The jet-propelled watercraft 100 shown in FIG. 14 has a problem in that the operating cable 106 for operating the reverse bucket 104 must be disposed over the jet propulsion unit 101. As a result, a containing space 108 for disposing the operating cable 106 is required over the jet propulsion unit. This makes it difficult to achieve a low center of gravity of the jet-propelled watercraft 100.
An object of the present invention is to provide a jet-propelled watercraft capable of eliminating the need for having an operating cable connected to a reverse bucket disposed in a space over a jet propulsion unit.
To solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides a jet-propelled watercraft, wherein a jet nozzle for jetting water is provided at a stern, a steering nozzle is additionally provided for the jet nozzle, a lower side of the steering nozzle is covered with a ride plate removably mounted to a hull, a pair of supporting brackets are provided on left and right sides of the ride plate, and a reverse bucket is vertically swingably provided on the pair of supporting brackets. This jet-propelled watercraft includes an intermediate lever disposed in a gap between one of the pair of supporting brackets and the steering nozzle. The intermediate lever is swingably mounted to the one of the supporting brackets, and an operating cable is connected to the reverse bucket via the intermediate lever, whereby the reverse bucket is swung by operating the intermediate lever via the operating cable.
With this configuration, the intermediate lever is disposed in the gap between one of the supporting brackets and the steering nozzle and the operating cable is connected to the reverse bucket via the intermediate lever. As a result, since the operating cable can be disposed along a side surface of the jet propulsion unit, a space which was required previously for disposing the operating cable connected to the reverse bucket in a space over the jet propulsion unit can now be eliminated.
Since the pair of supporting brackets are provided on the left and right sides of the ride plate and the intermediate lever is disposed in the gap between one of the supporting brackets and the steering nozzle, it is possible to ensure a wider gap between the pair of supporting bracket. Hence, the width of the reverse bucket can be increased.
In addition, since the gap between the pair of supporting brackets can be widened, it is possible to ensure a space being large enough to form supporting portions of the reverse bucket which add to the rigidity of the bucket.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.